Most image forming electronic devices, such as facsimile machines, printers, copiers, and most recently home photo printers, utilize any number of consumables, e.g. toner, ink, ribbon, receiver media, etc. which need to be replaced at the end of their lives. Today, more and more of these electronic devices are designed to be portable requiring a DC power supply. In this situation, the power supply is also a consumable, and needs to be replaced at the end of its service life.
The service life for a consumable is generally designed by the manufacturer and is monitored by the print device in which it operates. Optimally, near the end of the consumable's life, the print device displays a message to the user on a display of the device or on a host device, such as a personal computer, concerning the status of the consumable. The message is generally limited to nothing more than a "toner low" or "paper out" indication.
Typically, image forming electronic devices are packaged for sale so that all the components required to form an image are included in the package. And because equipment manufacturers design equipment for optimal performance using particular consumables having specific designated requirements, these particular consumables are also included in the packaging.
Also included in the package of the image forming electronic device is a User's Manual which instructs the user how to assemble the components of the device, and how to successfully form images using the device. Usually included at the end of the User's Manual, or as a separate document, is a "Statement of Limited Warranty". This statement includes, but is not limited to, information regarding covered repair services on the device if the device fails to operate within a certain period of time from date of purchase. The warranty may not include services for failure caused by use of other than the properly designed consumables in the device.
Replacement OEM consumables for image forming electronic devices are available for purchase from a wide selection of retail centers, as well as mail order from the Internet. In addition, there may be a family of similar devices each having the same or different requirements. Also available for purchase are numerous non-OEM replacement consumables, which are typically available to the consumer at a lower cost.
This invention provides a method and apparatus for communicating with the user of an image forming electronic device, and providing the user with an incentive to purchase and replace exhausted consumable with OEM parts or authorized parts. The invention advantageously utilizes sensors currently present in the image forming electronic device, which are typically built into the printing device. When the status indicator senses that a particular consumable is exhausted or nearing exhaustion, the device automatically prints a hard copy of a token which is redeemable on the purchase of that particular OEM consumable. The token will give the user an incentive to purchase an OEM product in the form of cash savings vs. an after market product.
In one embodiment, this is accomplished using a software program implementation within the image forming electronic device. In addition to, or in lieu of, a traditional low-level status light indicator, the low-level sensor sets a flag within the software program of the device, which prompts the user to make a decision about printing a token. The prompt can be in the form of a dialog box that is displayed on a screen of a computer that is connected to the electronic printing device. A "yes" response causes one or more pages to be printed by the device, a "no" response calls for no action. If the user selects the "yes" option, token information is printed on these pages. Alternately, the token can be printed automatically without requiring any action from the user. The token information contained in these pages can be completely pre-stored within a memory device such as a ROM (read only memory) or NVRAM (non-volatile random access memory). The pages can be hand carried by the user and redeemed at a place of purchase for the consumables.
The present invention provides a printing apparatus which senses the level of its consumables, indicates when the level is low, and offers the user an opportunity to purchase OEM replacement consumables at a reduced cost.
The present invention also provides an incentive for the user to purchase OEM replacement consumables.